By Lee Robinson

I was beginning to think I would never get the Christmas spirit this year.  I still haven’t done my Christmas shopping or mailed a single card.  I was beginning to feel a little guilty until I talked to a few other slowpokes who admitted they were in the same boat.  When you are busy you just don’t stop to think about these seasonal events.

Then just the other night on my way home I drove down 16th S.W. and the sound of carols coming from Santa’s Workshop reminded me that it was “That time of year again.”  I noticed how nice the business district looks with the colored lights twinkling overhead and I noted the happy faces of shoppers scurrying along the mall with their arms full of packages.

I was beginning to catch the mood of Christmas.  So, I pointed my little red car toward the Arbor Heights and Shorewood areas.  These people always seem to get into the spirt of things early in the year.  Sure enough, many homes were like bright beacons in the dark night.  The windows displayed shimmering trees garlanded with bright ornaments.

Things like this have a drastic effect on a sentimental character like me.  I began to worry about getting the bayberry candles we like to have each year and checking the ornaments and lights for the tree and finding an angel for the tip-top of our tree and finding time to bake Yule Khaka for Christmas breakfast and oh migosh the time is getting short – isn’t it?

There is much to be said for tradition and the way it binds all of us a little closer together.  I suspect that way down underneath most of us are quite sentimental about Christmas even though we may grumble about the commercial aspects of the season.  It is really the only time of year we stop to count our blessings and let others know how much we appreciate them.

Right now, I’d like to say Thanks and a very special Merry Christmas to all of the folks who helped to put me in the Christmas spirit.  The Chamber of Commerce and the Jaycees who created Santa’s Workshop, the City Light crews who installed the Christmas decorations in the business district, the nice folks who live in Arbor Heights and Shorewood who brighten the corner where they are, the stalwart men of the White Center Kiwanis Club who have taken Harvey Gentry to their hearts, Harvey Gentry who is a rare individual with incredible courage, the dance committee who are working on the benefit affair for Phyllis Miller, Graham McDade and Frosty Fowler of KING-Radio who volunteered to help with White Center’s drive for the Artificial Kidney Center, and Maria Sanda who surprised me with a special gift at Thanksgiving time and Omar Schau who brought us some of the best Polish sausage I ever tasted and now I can see that my list is endless.  I know so many fine people I guess I should have the Christmas spirit all year long.

There is one thing more I’d like to mention.  Just the other day I was scooting down the mall when I heard someone call, “Hi there, Lee.  It’s nice to see you again.”  I turned around and lo and behold it was Santa Claus.  Gee, I didn’t think he’d remember after all these years.

Lee Robinson was Co-Publisher of the paper until 1968